Definition

1. Verb (transitive and intransitive):
   • To fry something until it curls, becomes crisp, and often makes a sizzling sound: This refers to the cooking process where food, typically something like bacon or thin potato slices, is fried until it is very crisp and its edges may curl.
   • To form (hair) into small, tight curls; to frizz: This refers to styling hair into a mass of very small, crisp, and often wiry curls.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (Cooking):

  • Frizzle the bacon in the pan until it's completely crisp.
  • The sliced onions frizzled in the hot oil.

• Verb (Hair Styling):

  • She used a special iron to frizzle her hair for the costume party.
  • The humidity caused her hair to frizzle uncontrollably.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• The cooking sense often implies a specific auditory and visual result: a sizzling sound ("frizzling") and a curled, crisp texture.
• The hair sense is very similar to the verb "frizz" and often describes a style that is intentionally or unintentionally very curly and textured, sometimes with a slightly unkempt or voluminous appearance.
• It can be used figuratively to describe something that appears to be curling or crisping under intense heat or pressure.
  • The paint on the old car hood was frizzling in the desert sun.

Variants and Related Words

• Frizz (verb/noun): A very close synonym, especially for the hair-related meaning. As a noun, "frizz" refers to the state of hair being in small, tight curls.
• Frizzy (adjective): Describes hair that is in a state of small, tight curls.
  • She tried to tame her frizzy hair.
• Frizzled (adjective): The past participle used to describe the resulting state.
  • frizzled bacon, frizzled hair.

Synonyms

• For cooking: Sizzle, crisp, fry.
• For hair: Crimp, curl, frizz.

Phrasal Verbs / Common Collocations

• Frizzle up: Often used to describe the result of the action, meaning to become curled and crisp.
  • The edges of the parchment paper frizzled up in the oven.
  • Her bangs always frizzle up in the rain.

Related Idioms or Expressions

• While not a common idiom, the onomatopoeic quality of "frizzle" is sometimes used in descriptive writing to evoke the sound of frying or sizzling.
  • The sound of bacon frizzling in the pan is a classic morning noise.

Verb

1. curl tightly
   • crimp hair
2. fry something until it curls and becomes crisp